Latest news with #drugpolicy
New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
Cocaine Is the Fastest-Growing Illegal Drug Worldwide. Here's Why.
More people around the world are using illicit drugs than ever — more than 316 million in 2023. Marijuana is the most used drug, followed by opioids and amphetamines. But it is the cocaine market that continues to break records year after year. Global production reached a new high in 2023, racing to meet record demand and fueling new highs in cocaine-related deaths in many countries in recent years, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday. An estimated 25 million people used cocaine worldwide in 2023 — up from 17 million a decade earlier. Production jumped by 34 percent from 2022. Tracking the production and consumption of illicit drugs, including cocaine, is complex and time-consuming. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's annual World Drug Report, which this year includes data through 2023, is one of the few sources of global data on the illegal drug trade. Here's what it shows about the worldwide cocaine market. Where does cocaine come from? The coca plant, the main ingredient for cocaine, is primarily cultivated in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Colombia drove the recent increase in illegal cocaine production because of an expansion of coca cultivation areas and better yields from each acre. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
National Post
10 hours ago
- Health
- National Post
FIRST READING: B.C. politician pushes bill to force schools to say drugs are bad
Article content TOP STORY Article content The B.C. Conservatives are calling for measures to keep 'radical drug lobbyists' out of schools after a school event that featured info cards on how to do drugs such as cocaine, meth and GHB. Article content Article content 'This isn't education. It is grooming kids into drug culture,' said B.C. Conservative MLA Steve Kooner in a Tuesday statement endorsing his private member's bill that, if passed, would compel schools to 'explicitly discourage drug use.' Article content The event in question was a Pride festival sanctioned by the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools District. Article content After accompanying her 10-year-old to the event, Nanaimo, B.C. mother Ruth Taylor alerted local media to the presence of postcard-sized leaflets that local media described as 'drug use information cards.' Article content A card labelled 'meth,' for instance, details the drug's euphoric effects, its reported ability to increase libido and even includes recommended dosages. Article content The NDP invite the pro-drug lobby into BC schools. Conservatives are fighting to get them out. — Steve Kooner MLA (@SteveKooner) June 24, 2025 Article content 'A light dose is around 5-10 mg, a common dose is around 10-30 mg, and a strong dose is 30-40 mg,' it reads. Article content A card for GHB, a common date-rape drug, reads that the substance can 'make the user feel more relaxed and more sociable.' It adds, 'G can also increase libido.' Article content The cards were among the literature offered at a booth run by AIDS Vancouver Island, a harm reduction non-profit funded in part by government bodies such as Island Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Article content Taylor told Chek News that she confronted AIDS Vancouver Island about the materials being inappropriate for schoolchildren, but that 'they were not receptive to what I was saying' and 'the cards stayed for the remainder of the event.' Article content AIDS Vancouver Island didn't respond to a National Post query before press time. In a statement provided to Global News on Monday, the group said it was told the event was for older children and that they stood by 'the fundamental importance of youth receiving honest, factual and appropriate substance use and sexual health materials.'
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Washington Post
Myanmar burns confiscated drugs worth around $300 million
YANGON, Myanmar — Nearly $300 million worth of confiscated illegal drugs were destroyed in Myanmar's major cities on Thursday to mark the annual International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, officials said. The drug burnings came nearly a month after U.N. experts warned of unprecedented levels of methamphetamine production and trafficking from Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle region and Myanmar's eastern Shan State in particular.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Bloomberg
The World's Biggest Cocaine User Is Australia
Australia and New Zealand are the world's biggest users of cocaine, as global consumption of the illicit drug reaches record highs, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in its latest report. While more people use cocaine in the Americas than anywhere else, consumption is most prevalent in Australia and New Zealand, according to the World Drug Report 2025. Waste-water analysis suggests most people there are using cocaine only occasionally, the report said.
The Standard
3 days ago
- Health
- The Standard
HK expands e-Channel service to mainland Chinese travelers
'Space Oil' could become 'Zombie Oil' in HK's bid to strip drug of cool factor
